Direction-indicator for automobiles.



.r- M. BOWEN. v om senow INDICATOR FOR auromosues; APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10. l9l6s Patented Apr. 17, 1917' FRANK M. BOWEN, or SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

DIRECTION-INDICATOR FOR AUTOMOBILES.

To all ark-om it may concern:

Be it known that I. FRANK M. BOWEN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Syracuse. in the-county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Direction-Indicators for Automobiles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a direction indicator for automobiles and one of its objects is the provision of a device of this character, which shall be simple durable and efiicient and which may be manufactured and sold at a comparatively low cost.

Another object of this. invention is to provide a pair of hands rotatably supported at each side of the wind shield of an automobile, in clear view to traflic in front and in the rear thereof and adapted to be rotated to.

a vertical position or signaling position. to indicate that the operator of the automobile intends to make a stop or turn to the left or right. v I

A furtherobject of this invention is to provide controlling levers upon the steering post of an automobile to rotate the hands from a horizontal position to a vertical or signaling position to indicate the intended turn of the automobile.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a tension means for normally holding. the hands in a horizontal position and further provide means for locking the controlling levers against the tension means .to hold the hands in signaling or vertical ppsition when desired.

With these and other ob ects'1n view. as will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will "be hereinafter more fully described and claimed. For a complete understanding of my in- 'vention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Flgu

re 1 is a perspective View of a direction indicator applied to an automobile and constructed in accordance with my invention, I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

Application filed June 10, 1916. Serial No. 102,910.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the controlling levers, illustrating the means of attaching them to a steering post and the means of locking them in a signaling position.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the

numeral 1 indicates the front dash of an automobile, having a wind shield 2 secured and 11 of metal or other suitable material are secured to the outer ends of the rods 6 and '7 and are apertured in the palm portions to receive electric lamps 12, which are threaded in sockets 13 formed in the wrist portions of the hands 10 and 11. Surround ing the rods 6 and 7 are coil springs 14 having one of their ends secured to the rods 6 and -7 and their other end secured to the brackets 5 toprovide a tension means for normally holding the hands 10 and 11 in a horizontal position sas illustrated by the hand 11 in Fig. l.

Secured to the steering post 3 is a split collar 20, having ears 21 and 22 formed thereon and apertured to receive bolts or lar 20 at any desired position upon the steer- -ing post 3. An arm 25 is pivoted on the bolster pins 23 and has acollar 26 formed thereon andsurrounding the steering'post 3- at a. point above the split collar 20. The collar 26 is of larger dimension than the steering post 3, to allow it to be moved .on its pivot upwardly and downwardly oftl e steering post 3 and is provided with slots 27 adjacent the lower edge thereof and upon each side.

Pivoted to the split collar 20 are controlling levers 28 and 29 which extend upwardly from the split collar 20'and have links 30 and 31 secured thereto,'which are connected to the operating arms 8 and 9 re .spectively. Each of. the controlling levers shown the controlling lever 29 in Figs. 1 and 4;, being held in such a position under the tension of the springs 14, in which position the hands 10 and 11 are in a horizontal position indicating to the trafiic that the automobile is going to continue a straight path. When the operator desires to indicate that he is going to turn to the left ihephlls the controlling lever 28 againsttthe tension of the sprin s 14 and the hand 10 will assume a vertical position as illustrated in Fig. 1 and be illuminated by the contact platel5 on therod 6 coming in contact with the respective contact plate 19, clearly attracting the attention of the traffic in the rear and front of the automobile, letting them knew his intention of travel. The controlling lever 28 when pulled rearwardly will cause the collar 26 to rise upwardly and travel upon the pin 32 until it reaches the slot 27,

allowin the collar 26 to drop downwardly and ice; the controlling lever 28 in a rear- Ward or signaling position, thus leaving the operators hands free to control the IIliLClllIlQ when making the turn. After the turn has been made the operator grips the handle 33 and raises the collar :26, allowing the con trolling lever '28 to return to a forward or unsignaling position by the tension of the respective springs 14. To indicate to the traiiic that the turn is to be made to the right, the controlling lever 29 is pulled rear- 'wa.rdiy in the same manner as heretofore described in the operation of the controlling lever 28 and it is therefore not thought necessary to repeat the steps heretofore men tioned in operating the'left hand signal.

In order to indicate to-the traflic that a full stop is about to be made,'both control-- ling levers 28 and 29 are pulled rearwai'dly and locked by the collar 26.

Vhile I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention,: it will be understood that minor changes-in construction, combination and arrangement of parts may beinade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described I claim is .i

A direction indicator comprising a signalshield, a link connected to the rod, :1 split collar adapted to be secured to a steering post, an upwardly extending lever pivoted to said collar and to the link for operating the signaling rod, a pin secured to the lover, a collar pivoted to the first mentioned colmy invention, what 'ing rod adapted to be journaled to a wind lar and having a notch to receive the pin, 7

for locking the lever against movement, and a handle formed on the second mentioned collar for swinging said collar'up on its p1vot to free the lever.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature 

